Post by ShoesForRent on Sept 27, 2016 10:49:05 GMT

Delayed until further notice- opening night cancelled... The lighting director posted on his Facebook that he doesn't think it will open this year..

Anyway- My flight and hotel are non refundable, so any suggestions for what to do in Paris now that all my nights are free- are VERY welcome!!!

Anyone been to the Moulin Rouge? is it worth the very high priced ticket?

I'm in the same position, but my ticket is not until 15 November, so maybe there's still hope?

i have a non-refundable Eurostar ticket, hotel booking and international flight from Paris to Washington. I won't be back to Paris (from Australia) for a while after this trip, so rebooking for a later date once they get up and running is not an option.

Maybe you could see something at the real Opera Garnier? That's something I'm considering if my date gets cancelled.

I am seeing an opera there- very excited, but it was already planned alongside Phantom.

Post by viserys on Sept 27, 2016 14:49:17 GMT

There are plenty of original French musicals you could see in Paris - I'll be seeing four musicals in December and none of them would have been Phantom. I can talk a bit more about them if you are looking for suggestions, but I rather ask before I write a lot and you two are among those people who hate the French style...

Post by ShoesForRent on Sept 27, 2016 17:47:53 GMT

There are plenty of original French musicals you could see in Paris - I'll be seeing four musicals in December and none of them would have been Phantom. I can talk a bit more about them if you are looking for suggestions, but I rather ask before I write a lot and you two are among those people who hate the French style...

I'd definitely avoid the Moulin Rouge and similar tourist traps...

I'd love to hear it- I'm not sure I know what the French style is, and wether I'd hate it or not- but I am looking now through the individual theatres. So far (through here) I've found Oliver Twist which looks interesting. But there are so many theatres in Paris- I didn't realise how many (I'm now looking through Google Maps)!- so I'd love to hear what you've found!

Post by viserys on Sept 27, 2016 22:26:43 GMT

French musicals have developed their very own style through the last 10-15 years. They don't call them "comédies musicales" anymore but "spéctacles musicales" and they're more like rock-pop concerts with a thin thread of story holding it together. Songs are released as singles months ahead of the opening night which usually become big chart hits and by the time the actual show rolls around, everyone knows the big tunes by heart.

There's usually one big "spéctacle" opening in Paris in early autumn, which either plays at the Palais des Congres or the Palais des Sports (both huge venues with 4000-5000 seats) for a few months before going on a national tour.

This season's big new spéctacle is Les Trois Mousquetaires playing at the Palais des Sports:

Definitely my recommendation to familiarize yourself with the typical French spectacle. I know many people detest it - neither Notre Dame de Paris nor Romeo et Juliette, two of the early big spectacles that transferred to London, were pretty much flops on the other side of the channel.

Speaking of Notre Dame de Paris, it's coming back for a big 20th anniversary production at the Palais de Sports from 23th November, which may be a bit too late for you, but it's the mother of the modern spectacle and full of fantastic songs. Most of the original cast members went on to become huge stars in France and Quebec. Here's the website:

There will also be some "smaller" new French spectacles this autumn. My personal favorite, which I can't wait to see is "Le Rouge et le Noir" based on the novel by Stendhal, which bills itself as an "Opera Rock":

It's at "Le Palace", a rather small old typical Parisian theatre in the middle of the city (unlike the two biggies, the Palais des Congres and the Palais des Sports, for which you need to take the metro to the outskirts) and personally I think the young lead guy Côme is amazingly talented. Like many of the new crop of French musical stars, he comes from one of the casting shows on telly.

Then we have "Timeo" at the Casino de Paris in the middle of town as well (and a lovely theatre). I don't know much about this one (yet) except that they bill it as a "circospectacle" with some circus elements. The story concerns a young wheelchair-bound boy whi dreams of the circus. Seems to be aimed at families for the christmas season. I'm mainly keen on it because I had a major crush on Mickelangelo Loconte, who played Mozart in the "Mozart" spectacle a few years ago and who's playing the lead here.

Personally I've booked Notre Dame de Paris, Timeo and Le Rouge et Le Noir for my December trip (and added the English-language 42nd Street at the Theatre du Chatelet) as we had already booked Les Trois Mousquetaires for its tour stop in Brussels (it's less than two hours driving to Brussels from where I live, so we make our annual pilgrimage there for whatever the spectacle of the season is).

Another new show is "Un été 44" at La Comedia about some young people in summer 1944 during World War II from the invasion in Normandy to the liberation in Paris. I don't have time to squish it into my schedule, but it could also be worth a gander - many famous French songwriters contributed to the soundtrack, among them Charles Aznavour and Jean-Jacques Goldman:

There's the fairly pricey new "Oliver Twist" which has the advantage of coming with English surtitles, but I admit I haven't looked into it as I'm fully booked anyway and I rather see original fresh stories. It does seem to be a fairly impressive show though and I guess you couldn't go wrong with it.

Lastly the Italian tour of Jersey Boys is stopping in Paris for a while, being done in Italian with French surtitles from 30th September to 14th October, which may be fun if you're a fan of the show.

Post by bjorne on Sept 28, 2016 0:00:28 GMT

As a non-French, I like the Moulin Rouge spectacular quite a lot. I've been there many times during the years and the show it's actually visually stunning.But of course it depends what people like. I have a thing for those cabaret things with amazing choreography, great performers, feathers and honestly a lot of fun.

Post by mtchairs on Sept 28, 2016 2:02:45 GMT

Thanks for all the links viserys. Unfortunately not one of those shows has a performance on November 15, so it looks as though the George Balanchine triple bill at the Opera Garnier might be one of my only options if Phantom isn't up and running by then. I do have a ticket to see Notre Dame de Paris at the Colisee de Roubaix before it begins it's Paris season so will get my musical spectacular fix . I saw the original production in Paris and then again when it transferred to London. Can hardly believe that was 20 years ago!

Post by viserys on Sept 28, 2016 5:16:42 GMT

Thanks for all the links viserys . Unfortunately not one of those shows has a performance on November 15, so it looks as though the George Balanchine triple bill at the Opera Garnier might be one of my only options if Phantom isn't up and running by then. I do have a ticket to see Notre Dame de Paris at the Colisee de Roubaix before it begins it's Paris season so will get my musical spectacular fix . I saw the original production in Paris and then again when it transferred to London. Can hardly believe that was 20 years ago!

Ack, sorry to hear that! I didn't look closely into the dates when I put the list together.

And yes, 20 years ago makes me feel old There will be a big 40th anniversary revival of Starmania in 2018 which will make me feel even older (though at least I didn't see that one until 1992).

Post by viserys on Sept 28, 2016 11:32:26 GMT

I just wasted my lunch break poking around things some more and I saw that both "Oliver Twist" and "Un été 44" are produced by a company called "Theatre in Paris" which seems to focus on the international tourism market more than local audiences. ALL their productions are offered with English surtitles.

"I love Piaf" is on Monday 14th November (obviously some "Best of Piaf" thing)"Anything you want" on Tuesday 15th November (some new comedy, starring Berenice Bejo from "The Artist")and "El Cid" on Wednesday 16th November (the classic swashbuckler)

So maybe you could do these mtchairs and perhaps the whole set of shows is of interest to others as well who may appreciate the surtitles.

Post by ShoesForRent on Sept 28, 2016 13:57:22 GMT

viserys Thank you so so much for such an extensive post- this is great! I didn't even know those were happening, let alone that they were a French thing!

Am looking into all of them, I see none do shows over Mon-Tues-Wed (which is strange- but I guess French custom) So I'll see which I can book- but am definetly looking forward to trying at least one out- the trailers are indeed really catchy.

I'm leaning towards Le Rouge E Le Noir- but I'll let you know what I end up seeing!

Again- thanks so so much- it's so informative!

And thank you bjorne - It looks beautiful, and my grandparents have been to see it on my their honeymoon and enjoyed it too, but ticket price is so high though.. I don't know- if I'll get the refund for Phantom before my flight I'll think about it again

For anyone interested- on Phantom's Facebook page some people have been getting Emails regarding their tickets that all booking between first preview and mid May of next year will be refunded- So I guess it's going to take at least that long